The nonprofit Experimental Sound Studio, whose mission is to provide noncommercial artists with a noncommercial recording space, moved into its new digs near Paulina and Foster two months ago. The entrance still smells like wet paint, but inside the isolation booth is finished, the engineer’s bench is in place, and rows of neatly coiled patch cords hang from hooks along one wall. As summer flies buzz through the room, a genial repairman fiddles with the studio’s main workhorse, an Otari half-inch eight-track machine.
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By the standards of some technomaniacs, ESS’s new digs are not particularly impressive. Plenty of Chicago musicians would survey the smallish room, the puny eight-channel mixing board, and the second-hand upright piano in the corner, and respond with a snort. However, Dawn and Lou Mallozzi, members of the ESS board of directors who oversee the day-to-day operation of the place, couldn’t care less. “We’re not in competition with any commercial studios,” Dawn explains. “We do a totally different thing. We’re here for the benefit of those who don’t have access to the other studios.”
Surprisingly, ESS isn’t stormed by young rock-and-roll musicians looking to make demo tapes. “We aim,” says Lou, “toward trying to serve the arts community as opposed to the entertainment community–whatever that fuzzy line is. We could record rock-and-roll bands, but if they’re not recording demos at home, they usually want to go to 16-track anyway.”
